Naming Conventions
by mnemosyne23
Summary: Kara and Lee and baby make... fluff! Some harmless, snuggly fluff as Lee and Kara welcome their second daughter into the world.


**TITLE:** Naming Conventions  
**AUTHOR:** Mnemosyne 

**Disclaimer:** Not mine!  
**SUMMARY:** Kara and Lee and baby make... fluff! Some harmless, snuggly fluff as Lee and Kara welcome their second daughter into the world.. :)  
**RATING:** PG  
**CHARACTERS:** Lee/Kara  
**SPOILERS:** This takes place in a generic future. Spoilers into Season two, but nothing major.  
**NOTES:**  
I've wanted to write Lee/Kara Family!Fic for a ridiculously long time. I decided it was time to quit procrastinating and get on the ball. :D Enjoy!

* * *

Kara opened heavy eyelids to see Lee making faces at the baby.

She kept still for a minute, not wanting to interrupt the domestic scene as Lee waggled his eyebrows and puckered his lips at the silent bundle in his arms. Though he'd be the first to deny it out of modesty, Lee was born to be a father, and it showed in every little thing he did. Whereas Kara fretted night and day about raising their children, Lee seemed to take everything in stride; he handled Caroline's scraped knees and temper tantrums just as efficiently as he handled a refit to his Mark VII. Kara had decided months ago that there was nothing more adorable than seeing the _Galactica's_ CAG carrying an exhausted two-year old back to their room for a nap during the mid-shift, negotiating the ship's corridors and flipping through the flight schedule while the little girl dozed on and off on his blue-uniformed shoulder.

And now Caroline Thrace Adama had a sister; just a few hours old and the little girl had already stolen Lee's heart all over again. Kara could see it in his eyes, the spots of giddy color on his cheeks, as he grinned and cooed and babbled at the newborn in his arms. "If I had a camera, I'd use this for blackmail," she mumbled, her voice froggy with sleep. "The CAG making faces like a clown."

Lee looked up, eyes bright with fatherly delight. "Good morning to you, too," he said, moving closer to the edge of the infirmary bed and bending down to drop a soft kiss on her lips. It was an awkward move as he tried to do so without jarring the little girl in his arms.

Kara sighed into his mouth. "How long have I been out?" she asked as he straightened up.

"About three hours," he told her. "I wish I could let you sleep a little longer, but I'm actually glad you're up. She's starting to get hungry again and I may be able to do a lot of things as the father, but feeding her's not one of them."

Kara chuckled throatily, hoisting herself into a sitting position. "I'll have to talk to Doctor Baltar to see if we can do something genetically about that," she mused, wincing at the lingering soreness in her lower body. "But I guess we'll manage."

Lee helped arrange the pillows behind her back as she took the tiny bundle from his arms. A pair of soft blue eyes stared up at her from out of a sea of pink blanket and Kara could feel herself grinning like an idiot. "She's got your eyes again," she told him, reaching into the blanket to run a finger along her daughter's smooth cheek. "And your nose. That's the second daughter we've had that looks exactly like you. If I wasn't painfully aware of being there while they were born, I'd swear you were getting your other best pilot knocked up on the side."

"Considering my other best pilot is me, that might be a bit hard," Lee reminded her as he helped her open the front of her hospital gown.

"It would explain the uncanny resemblance, though. Come on, little one," she cooed, addressing the words to the little girl in her arms. "Snack time."

The newborn nuzzled against her breast for a moment, small pink mouth instinctively opening and closing in a natural sucking action. Kara couldn't help giggling at the ticklish touch, then pulled in a quick breath as the hungry mouth finally closed over her nipple and began to suck in earnest. "Damn, I'd forgotten how hard these babies bite down," she said, adjusting her daughter into a more comfortable position and settling in for the long haul.

"I'd appreciate it if you didn't use such salty language in front of my daughter, Starbuck," Lee said with a grin, kissing the top of her head before pulling back to smooth her hair and watch her feed their daughter. "It's bad enough Caroline's already used frak in front of her grandfather."

"Now who's using salty language, Apollo. Besides, that was an accident. She was just telling him about what she'd heard in the galley that day. Is it my fault our eldest has ears like a bat and a photographic memory?"

"It wouldn't have been so bad if she hadn't been describing your reaction to finding out there was no oatmeal for her to have for breakfast."

"She's a picky eater, you know that. She only likes oatmeal for breakfast."

Lee laughed, reaching back to pull a chair up beside the bed. "Still, I'm hoping we can keep this one from being corrupted quite so fast."

"They were born on a warship, Lee," she reminded him with an affectionate squeeze of the hand he'd placed on her stomach. "It's a casualty of battle. If they don't learn it from us they'll be picking it up from the techs on the flight deck, and some of them know words that would make _me_ blush, if I was physically capable."

"I've seen you blush," Lee said with a lascivious arching of his eyebrow, bringing her hand to his lips so he could place a tender kiss on her knuckles.

Kara opened her fingers in his grasp and spread them out to stroke his cheek. "You're the exception," she murmured with a fond smile. Glancing around, she asked, "Where's Caroline?"

"I left her with the Chief."

"He didn't mind?"

"He's off-shift and he still has all of Boxy's old toys lying around. You know how nutty Carrie is about those toy planes of his."

"Get 'em started early, that's what I say."

"So does the Chief. I think he's convinced he's going to train her to be a specialist rather than a pilot."

"The daughter of Starbuck and Apollo? Not a chance. She's born to fly."

"She's also a dab hand with a socket wrench. I think we might be fighting a losing battle."

They lapsed into comfortable silence for the next few minutes. The only sound was the gurgling suction of their newborn daughter and their own contented breathing. Kara closed her eyes and let herself enjoy the moment. They'd already been through one newborn, so she knew what to expect: late night feedings; colic; Lee trying to fly CAP with bags the size of Caprica City under his eyes; snapping at the Nuggets because she'd only gotten an hour of sleep the night before. In some ways she was lucky that she was grounded for the next few months; at least there wasn't much chance of her getting shot out of the sky because she was too tired to think straight as a Cylon raider was bearing down on her.

Bad thoughts. She didn't want to think bad thoughts right now. Lee was going to be just fine. He knew she'd murder him if he let himself get killed. Besides, she didn't want to think about the future. She wanted to think about right now.

Because right now, everything was quiet. Nobody was hammering on the door, demanding to see the CAG; Tigh wasn't in her face about missing a shift because Caroline wasn't feeling well; the baby at her breast wasn't bawling for some unknown, godsforsaken reason that neither of them could decipher; and so far, she hadn't had to change one single dirty diaper. _If only all of it could be this easy,_ she thought dreamily. "I'm going to have to stop letting you get me pregnant," she said aloud, breaking the companionable silence.

She opened her eyes and tilted her head to the side in time to see him laugh quietly. "Why's that?" he asked.

"Because we're running out of names."

"Kara, we've had two children. There are billions of names out there. I think we're safe."

"I don't care how many names there are; there aren't enough good ones. I'm not naming our children Wippet and Pauber like some neo-reformist idiot on the _Rising Star_."

"You know, I think even throwing out names like Wippet and Pauber, I'd have to keep you consistently pregnant for the next two million years for us to work through all the suitable names in the Colonial arsenal."

"So says you. You're used to having the last name _Adama_, but it's not easy finding something that sounds good with it. You couldn't have a reasonable last name like _Thrace_, could you. Nope, you had to get all fancy and have a last name that's two letters short of a moan. _Aaaaa..._"

"I'll be sure to lodge a formal complaint with my father."

"Do that. And while you're at it, tell him the odds of him having a William Adama the Younger to fawn over are getting slimmer by the day. Your little soldiers seem to prefer the fairer sex."

"I think your eggs brow beat them into submission."

"Yeah, well, like I said: everyone has a skill. Same thing applies to gametes."

Lee shook his head and kissed her on the cheek, squeezing her hand as he did so. "Don't ever change on me Kara, all right?" he said, laughter in his voice. "I don't know what I'd do without you."

She tilted her head to the side and kissed the tip of his nose. "Aye aye, Major," she said with a smile.

The moment was broken by a flurry of activity on the other side of the curtain that shielded her bed from the rest of Life Station. The curtain bulged and retracted a few times in quick succession, followed by a nervous clearing of a throat. "Um, Major Adama? May I borrow you for a moment?"

Kara shared a look of suppressed mirth with Lee as they both realized who was on the other side; the only person who would think of knocking on a curtain to get somebody's attention. "I'll be right there, Billy," Lee called out, standing up and giving Kara a quick kiss on the forehead. "I'll be right back," he murmured near her ear.

Kara nodded. "Go on," she told him, giving him a gentle prod in the midsection. "You're the one with first-time daddy experience. Share it around." Lee grinned at her, dropped another quick kiss on the top of her head, then slipped through the curtain.

Kara sighed and looked down at her daughter. "You're going to have a playmate soon," she said after a few minutes as she waited for Lee to return. Gently taking the tiny girl's hand, she rubbed her thumb against the baby's palm. "A little boy. Won't that be nice? His name is going to be Hershel Potifus Keikeiya. Isn't that just the worst name in the world? That's what the kid gets for having grandparents with names straight out of the Scrolls." She laughed and kissed her daughter's hand. "But hey, the good thing is it means you have a built in boyfriend waiting for you when you hit the right age. Don't tell your father I'm already arranging your love life in my head, though, because he still refuses to accept that his daughters will one day grow up to be women who are going to get married and have babies of their own. I think he thinks he'll be able to keep you both tiny and utterly devoted to him for the rest of your lives. I've told him he can have one, but not the other." She smiled fondly as the little girl's fingers flexed against her hand. "He's such a good daddy. But even little girls grow up sometime.

"Your sister's so excited to meet you. Her name's Caroline. That was your grandma Adama's name. Isn't it pretty? She was pretty, too. Your daddy looks a lot like her, which means you and your sister look like her, too. Don't worry, though, we know which of you is which. Though I think it would help things a lot if we actually had a name for you. I'm sorry we didn't have one ready and waiting when you came along, but like I said, it's hard picking a good name for a new Adama. You kind of want to make sure it lives up to the Adama's that have come before. Which isn't to say I expect you two to shoulder some kind of hideous paternal burden for the rest of your lives. I just don't want you to resent me because I named you Hepzebah or something ridiculous like that. Hepzebah. That was Billy's mother's name. Pray he never has any daughters, or if he does, that they name her after Dualla's mommy, all right?

"I shouldn't say that. Hepzebah's a... well, it's a hideous name. But it was his mother's name, which makes it kind of beautiful, when you think about it. Billy's a really nice guy, which means his mother must have been a really nice woman." She paused for a moment, just watching her daughter suck contentedly at her breast.

"I'm not naming you Helen," she murmured. "I promise, I'd never do that to you."

She flexed her fingers against her daughter's back and tried to ignore their incessant ache.

"What do you think of Daphne?" she asked after a moment. "Do you feel like a Daphne? Or Athena? Something from the Scrolls but with a bit more majesty. Artemis maybe. Do you think you're a huntress at heart? This would have been much easier if you'd been born a boy. Then we could have just named you Lee, Jr., or Zakary, or William Husker, and you'd be a burbling bundle of masculine joy right now, in a blue blanket instead of a pink one." She smiled and nuzzled her daughter's soft forehead. "But that's all right, sweetheart. You know what? I think we'll keep you."

"We could still name her Lee."

She looked up to see Lee standing just inside the curtain, watching her with that same tender expression which had made her fall in love with him years ago back at the Academy. Even before Zak, a piece of her heart had always belonged to Lee Adama. "How long have you been standing there?" she asked, knowing he wouldn't give her a straight answer.

He didn't disappoint. "A bit," he hedged, moving deeper into the enclosure to sit next to her again. "Long enough to hear you mulling over names with our newborn."

"I thought she should have a say in what people will call her for the rest of her life," she admitted. "It's not an easy decision to make." Settling back against the pillows, she asked, "So, how's Billy doing?"

Lee nodded. "Remarkably well, all things considered." He grinned. "Dee keeps sending him on little errands to keep him out of her hair, though."

"How far along is she?"

"Just a couple of hours. There's a long time yet."

"What kind of errands?"

"Oh, little things. Getting ice. Getting holovids. Getting music discs. She's got a mini home theater set up in the maternity room at the moment, and I think she's running out of ideas. I feel sorry for the guy – he just wants to help, but there's not much he can do."

"Is that why he came to get you? For more ideas?"

"Actually, Dee asked him to get me."

Kara raised her eyebrows. "Yeah? What for?"

Lee chuckled. "She wanted to ask me what she should do to get him to go away for a little while." He took her hand between both of his, massaging her knuckles and unwittingly soothing the ache of her long-broken fingers. "I told her I wouldn't be much help in that regard, since you refused to let me out of your sight while Caroline was being born. I told her you wanted the satisfaction of hurling new and previously unheard of insults about the masculine gender in my direction for the entire thirty-eight hours."

Kara grinned at the memory. "They were pretty good, weren't they?"

"Memorable to say the least. Dee didn't seem inclined to do the same with Billy."

"Wait until things _really_ get moving. She might change her tune."

"Perhaps. But for now I couldn't give her much advice except to just tell him to go get some sleep. He's been on pins and needles for the past couple of days, knowing her due date was coming up. He hasn't slept much and it shows."

"Did she tell him?"

"Yep."

"And did he listen?"

Lee snickered. "He asked the nurses if someone could bring him a cot."

Kara laughed. "Sounds like Billy." She sighed happily and smiled at her husband. "We can't name her Lee, Lee. Just listen to how weird that sounds."

"We could spell it differently."

"What, you mean with a silent -GH? Leigh still sounds like Lee, Lee."

"So we call her by her middle name."

"And that would be?"

"Think outside the box for a minute and you tell me."

Kara thought for a minute, mulling over all the girl's names she could think of. None of them seemed quite right; they all lacked any emotional attachment, and she wanted her daughter's name to mean something. She toyed with the idea of Laura, after the late president, but then decided that came with too much emotional baggage and was too heavy on alliteration anyway.

When the inspiration came, it was like a surgical air strike to the brain. One moment there was nothing; the next, utter clarity. "Gabrielle," she murmured.

Lee tilted his head, smiling at her. "Why Gabrielle?" he asked.

Kara kissed her daughter's forehead, breathing in the soft baby smell of her. "My father's name was Gabriel," she murmured.

She tensed slightly, waiting for the inevitable conversation that was sure to arise from her choice of names. They'd been married for years, had been close for years before that, yet she'd told him very little about her childhood. Someday she would, when things didn't feel so close to her still and she didn't have two daughters of her own to raise. Lee often tried to draw her out, but he never pressed too hard. He understood Kara better than anyone ever had – better even than Zak, who she'd loved dearly – and he knew that when she was ready to talk, she'd talk. The problem was, right now, she wasn't ready to talk. She was too happy and far too content to dredge up old memories of past hurts. Hopefully he'd understand that and let it slide.

She resisted the urge to let out a sigh of relief when he murmured, "Leigh Gabrielle Adama." Then, around a broad smile, "I can call her Gabby."

Kara snorted. "Sorry, kiddo," she apologized to the drowsy little girl on her chest. "I should have thought of something with fewer nicknames." Lifting her up to her shoulder, Kara patted the newborn on the back. It was the strangest thing. A few years ago, if someone had told her she'd take simple pleasure in burping her daughter, in feeling the warmth of the little body against her shoulder, she would have laughed and blown smoke in their face. Now she preferred this time with her children to any rowdy game of Triad around a table in the rec room. Well, almost any game. It sure felt good when she got to take some cocky rookie down a notch or two.

Lee chuckled and caressed his wife's hair. "I think she's out," he said softly, keeping up the steady, soothing strokes. "Do you want me to take her so you can get some more sleep?"

Kara glanced at her sleeping daughter – Leigh Gabrielle, as she could now think of her – and thought how lucky the little girl was to look like her father. If outward appearance said anything about inner character, then her daughters had been blessed twice over. She wondered vaguely if her eventual sons would look like her, and if so, how many gray hairs they were going to give their parents over the course of their lifetime. Naming this newest bundle of joy Leigh had negated the need for a Lee, Jr., in the future, meaning there was an excellent chance their first son would be named William for his grandfather. If he ended up being at all like his namesake, he was going to be one heck of an ornery handful. You didn't get a call sign like "Husker" for peeling corn. She didn't quite know _where_ you got a call sign like Husker, and hadn't yet worked up the nerve to ask.

"I don't want to let her go," she murmured after a moment, figuring he deserved an answer even if he was adept at reading her mind.

"I know the feeling," he agreed softly.

She looked up at him. He was watching Gabrielle, affection painted across his handsome features, and she decided she was being incredibly selfish. "Go ahead," she said with a smile, shifting the baby girl away from her shoulder. "Take her."

Lee gave her a quick look. "Are you sure?"

Kara nodded as she straightened her gown. "I had nine months with her all to myself. I think I can afford to hand her over to her daddy for a few hours." She beamed at him. "And that means you get to change her diaper."

Lee laughed, gently lifting his daughter out of Kara's arms. "Already have once," he told her.

"Ooh, initiative."

"That's why you love me."

"One reason, yeah."

Lee bent down, gently rocking Gabrielle as he pressed a kiss to Kara's lips. She lifted a hand to hold him close for a few seconds longer, enjoying the warm, soothing touch of his mouth against hers and the heady scent of his aftershave. She debated asking him to bring the pillow from their bedroom down for her to sleep on, because she found it hard to sleep without the familiar smell of him nearby; but that was just clingy, and Kara hated the thought of being clingy. After a few more lingering seconds, she let him draw away, trailing her fingers through his hair as he went.

"Sweet dreams, mommy," he said with a smile.

"Wake me if she needs anything," she murmured, already feeling her eyes beginning to droop with exhaustion.

"I will."

"And tell Caroline I love her."

"She knows, but I'll tell her if I can drag her away from the Chief and his toy planes for more than a few seconds."

She chuckled, closing her eyes. "Our daughter, the specialist. At least there'd finally be someone younger than Cally on the deck..." She yawned and snuggled down into her pillows, feeling Lee tuck the bedclothes snug around her body. "Lee?" she mumbled.

"Hmm?"

"Love you."

There was silence for a moment, then the familiar touch of his lips to her forehead. "Love you, too," he whispered near her temple. "Now shhhh... Sleep."

He didn't have to tell her twice.

**THE END**


End file.
